Lectocomp Electronics Manufacturing Company

You are a manager at Lectocomp Electronics Manufacturing Company, a company that produces
a number of different computer boards used in various products produced by their customers. At
the company’s quarterly meeting, the head of marketing described a new product to be
introduced in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, approximately twelve months from now.
The product will be a device used in different medical products. As a result, any work done on
that product falls under various government regulations. This regulation aspect is new to
Lectocomp Manufacturing. This product will open new markets for the sales channel, lay the
foundation for add-on products, and generate new revenues. You have only seen preliminary
sketches of the new product, but you are very excited by it.
The project will require participation from most of the company’s departments: design,
engineering, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments. Lectocomp
Manufacturing uses another company to produce the prototype boards; the final boards will be
manufactured in-house. Although this is a “mission-critical” project, no additional staff will be
added. People will be expected to balance their project responsibilities with their day-to-day
work (including other projects). The project manager is to be selected from the engineering
department. This is a first, as the project managers normally come from the marketing
department. A project of this scale has never been managed by an in-house person before.
Historically, a project manager/consultant has been brought in. You were hired as an engineer
with Lectocomp three months ago, and this week, you were told that you have been selected to
be the project manager. In your prior job, you were a project manager for most of the company’s
large initiatives—most of which were quite successful.
You have experience in manufacturing and medical products but have not done any product
work since you started at Lectocomp. You have been involved in some engineering clean-up
activities and have not worked with many people outside your department yet. The company has
not historically had strong processes to follow nor has communication been a core competency.
However, six months ago, a new CEO was brought on board who has focused on improving the
organization’s skills in those areas. She is the leader who has insisted on managing the project
internally. She is also somewhat familiar with the regulated environment and requires that you
follow all the strict, formal processes that will need to be implemented as the project progresses.
She is in the process of interviewing candidates for a new quality manager position. This
manager will be responsible for implementing the required processes, controls, and metrics; you
will be working closely with that person.